Mental Health Awareness Kindness Series (4)
WHAT KINDNESS CREATES THE BIGGEST IMPACT?
This is a question I’ve been asked many times by journalists, business leaders and kids. Most good people want to make a positive impact in life and see that kindness is a way of doing this.
The first thought that people have is that a big act of kindness will create a big impact. This is not true at all.
Kindness and the impact it can have are fascinating. One of the biggest things I’ve seen over and over again is the spread and ripples of kindness. The impact is something we’ll never truly know for that very reason.
I’ll share one of my favourite acts of kindness with you - back from 2016 on my 100th day. I’d decided that I would do something “big” by doing 100 “small” things. After much thought, I decided I would use technology to help me send 100 short notes to people in my life; using WhatsApp, e-mail, Messenger and Linkedin, I would send a short sentence to 100 people.
The intention was to tell 100 people one thing - what I most admired about them. I started with creating a list of 100 names; the list consisted of friends, family, people I knew very well and not so well, some colleagues and people I liked a lot and people I didn’t really care much for. It was as diverse as possible.
Next, I composed a standard explanation of my 100th day of kindness and picking 100 people. I then wrote a sentence that started with “the big thing I most admire about you is….” and tailored the next part accordingly.
I sent things that acknowledged the “lioness mother”, the “beautiful smile and positivity”, the “courage of survival”
I had no idea that after I’d sent the first 8 notes out, the recipients would start to reply back. About 80 of them came back with notes such as “how did you know how much I needed to hear that?” and “I’m sat with tears rolling down my face - thank you for seeing me”.
I’ve keep these incredible notes as a reminder of how important my 100 small messages were. I’ve done many similar things since because they are so important. Some of the recipients were, on paper, hugely successful and “happy”, and yet they shared with me how they were really feeling.
My personal answer to the question of “what kindness creates the biggest impact?” is this, to hear and see someone - the whole of them, to understand their story and pain. But actually any act of kindness, no matter how small, is a big deal.
